Part 15
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"I just wanted to know if you needed anything done out of country; I'm going to visit family while I'm still away."Mello's mouth was dry as he sat hunched over on the loveseat, feet firmly planted on the floor. This was possibly one of the stupidest things he could have done. It was entirely Wammy's fault, and he was damn well going to make that known when he got there.
"I didn't think you still had family," Rod said loudly. On the other end, his voice echoed as though everyone was being quiet and listening in or perhaps even worse, like Rod was alone.
Mello did not have an answer, so he stayed silent.
"Alright, Mello. If something comes up, I will tell you your job. Pick up some good souvenirs for the rest of us."
Mello knew he was walking a very, very fine line at the moment, but the need to go to Wammy's and get that shitastic meeting over with was more important. Maybe afterward he could stop receiving phone calls at three AM when he was trying to sleep. At least from one annoyance. Rod was an entirely different story.
Mello slowly brought the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a moment, the dial tone ringing loudly before he closed it. He would have to be very careful from now on. He was only being allowed to do this right now as he was on good terms with Rod. He always made the family a lot of money and gave the best advice on dealings. But if for a second they thought he was turning on them, there would be hell to pay whether the accusation was true or not.
"So you are all good to leave now?" Matt had been listening in on Mello's entire conversation with Rod, though Mello hadn't had it on speaker.
"I wouldn't say that exactly, but the situation isn't going to get any better. I'm lucky I wasn't told to go back," Mello sighed and let the phone drop to the countertop. Very lucky. The only upside would have been that he had a legitimate reason not to go to Wammy's in that case.
Mello glanced around at the bags and suitcases that littered the living room, his own included, and didn't want to think about how many trips in the elevator that was going to take. Mello had canceled his stay at the hotel the night before. He had slept on the loveseat in Matt's apartment in preparation for the trip to Canada where they would be flying into Vancouver International Airport. The private jet would be waiting for them. Yay for hours and hours on two different planes.
"Let's get going. Say goodbye to your apartment, Matt."
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When the plane finally landed in Vancouver, Mello was more than certain he never wanted to fly ever again. "You OK, Mello? You look a little pale..."
Mello ignored the comment and grabbed their things while wheeling Matt out of first class. There really hadn't been any other option unless they wanted to be in the cramped conditions of the 'normal' fliers, which Mello had not.
The flight was mostly on schedule, so Mello was confidant they would have enough time to get to the other section of the Airport for their flight. Maybe even grab something to eat. Though Mello was a little dubious if he could stomach it.
There was always something about being on an airplane that made him feel hungry and sick at the same time. It was hard to tell which way his stomach would turn. It was quite annoying.
"Mello, I think we should grab a few snacks just in case the airplane isn't stocked. I wouldn't put it passed them to make a long flight worse."
Mello laughed. That was certainly true. It wasn't that Wammy's didn't think of those needs, but more like they wanted to see if one were prepared. It had always been like that. "Yeah, alright. Where to Matt? Pick a store, any store."
Matt pointed, so Mello wheeled him over there; it was easier to push Matt than have him maneuver through the insanity that was an airport. It was also useful to keep Matt's hands free so he could hold onto the carry-ons Mello had shoved onto his lap.
Mello knew they should probably stock up on things other than junk food and water. However, that seemed to be the gist of what was in all Airports. That or nuts. Mello hated nuts, assorted or otherwise.
Thankfully, Matt had not even bought any for himself. Though there were a lot of chocolate products and foods like crackers. They were going to be starving, if Wammy hadn't put something better on that plane.
"Where to next?"
Mello let Matt choose where to get something of actual nutritional value. They had plenty of time before Roger had said their plane would be there, so Mello was hardly worried about sitting down and eating.
Matt chose a pizza buffet, and the time up until their flight was spent in there, relaxing.
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"Are you certain this is the right way?"
"No. Feel free to look over Rogers texts again to find something I didn't though," Mello snapped. They were in a practically deserted part of the airport and attempting to find a gate that didn't seem to exist. It was frustrating enough without Matt practically telling him he could do better.
"Mello, I trust your judgment. I'm just wondering if Roger didn't mean-"
"Matt, we're here. Look," Mello stated with a wide grin. Outside the window, there was a large private jet with no other planes around it as well as what appeared to be body guards standing nearby.
How many other people could possibly have that much fuss being made over them in the same exact area Roger had told them to be? If that wasn't their plane, Mello would stop wearing leather.
"Mello, you can't just point at a plane and decide it's ours." As Matt said that though, he was taking more of an interest in it.
Mello ignored him and went up to the desk that no one was working at. If so much effort was really being put into keeping them away from the usual airport populace, Mello decided that there probably wouldn't be anyone waiting for them unless it was a Wammy's representative.
"Mello, you can't just-"
Mello grinned as he took a look behind the podium-like desk and spied an envelope with a large gothic M printed on it. Bingo.
Tearing it open and scanning the contents, his smirk grew larger. "Let's get going, Matt. We have a plane to catch."
He handed the note to Matt, who read it over with a sigh and shrugged. Mello supposed that was as close to a positive answer as he was going to get. With Matt, Mello would take what he could get.
The plane wasn't hooked up to a terminal, so the only way to get to it was to go across the tarmac. Thankfully, with the small set of directions left in the note and a small detour, they stood before the plane.
"You are Mello, I presume?" One of the security men asked, holding out a hand. Mello nodded but did not take the hand. Instead, he surveyed the area. How were they getting into the plane? There wasn't a pull-away staircase. Then something caught Mello's eye; it was coming down from the plane, a sort of platform.
"Sirs, if the both of you could get on this, we can get the flight underway," the same security man motioned to the still descending object. The airplane had a lift. What normal airplane had a lift? That meant Roger knew about Matt's condition and the need of something like that.
"Well that's convenient," Matt muttered quietly. Mello caught the irritation in his voice and realized what exactly he had gotten himself into. Matt hated Wammy's, everything to do with the place, and now they were going there for an undetermined amount of time.
The trip was going to be worse than hell.
Mello wheeled Matt onto the platform and had to move next to Matt or risk falling from the edge as it began its ascent. The security personnel were still on the ground. Either they were staying there or going up separately, not that there was any room for another person.
"Oddly enough, I kinda feel like Professor X," Matt commented while looking up at Mello.
Mello thought about the lift they were on, the private jet in general, and the 'special' school they were on their way to. He snorted out a laugh.
"Who the hell does that make me then? And if you even think about saying something like Sabertooth, I'll have to kill you." Mello had watched Matt's lips part as though to add something sarcastic, but he seemed to change his mind and grinned instead.
"Maybe Gambit."
"Gambit?" Who the hell was that?
"You only watched the movies didn't you?" Matt sighed, and Mello wondered why he suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
"If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to make you watch the cartoon. Maybe even at Wammy's..."
Mello wasn't so sure about watching any cartoon, though he was in favor of doing anything that left him with less time around the occupants of the school. "We'll see," was all he responded. It seemed to be enough for Matt.
The lift surprised them both as it continued on an inch or so higher than the floor of the plane and paused only to move at a crawl towards the inside. There was a gaping hole in the middle of the floor.
Mello couldn't believe it. The lift really was an actual part of the plane's inside floor. He and Matt shared a mutual look of disbelief as it lowered and clicked into place.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Matt snorted. "Maybe we really shouldn't be surprised. I mean, when has anyone in Wammy's ever done anything by halves?"
Mello conceded the point, though this went well and beyond the norms.
Once they had moved off of the lift, it started up again, and Mello watched it disappear beyond the level of the floor. There had to be some sort of weight sensor on it to alert when the lift was clear.
"Matt, you need anything before we seat ourselves?" Matt held up his PSP and a bag of junk food. Mello shook his head. Such simplistic needs.
Mello moved their bags from Matt's lap and shoved them onto the spare seating on the other side of the plane. It was rather spacious and had maybe ten seats in total. The rest was walking room, what appeared to be a very spacious bathroom, and a curtained off area with the sign 'sleeping quarters' off into the back. The plane was made for long flights, and Mello had to wonder if this hadn't been one of L's usual planes before it had been 'renovated.'
The lift came back up with a few of the security men; the hatch was well secured by one of them as the other two disappeared into the pilot's cabin.
"We will be leaving soon, so you will have to be seated and strapped in."
Mello noticed Matt's expression darken and wondered at the idiocy of asking if Matt could stay in the chair. The man however, left before Mello had made a decision. Mello did not ask for Matt's permission in 'helping' him into one of the spacious leather seats. From the way Matt's arms went around him, he had expected and accepted that Mello would do it.
Mello only extended his help as far as getting Matt into the seat and left things to the gamer after that. He had to do something about the wheelchair without having to fold it up, as that would require taking everything off of it. Matt's usual one had been placed in baggage of the other flight, along with their suitcases and currently resided in the cargo hold of this one.
Hearing the click of Matt's seat belt spurred a bit of genius in Mello. He shoved Matt's temporary wheelchair over by the other row of seats and wrapped one of the seats belts between the gap in the wheelchairs arm; Mello secured it by fastening the seat belt.
"Interesting use of a seat belt," Matt commented. Mello hadn't even realized Matt had been watching him.
"Want to see what else I can do with one?" Mello gave his trademark smirk, making Matt laugh. Mello noted the captain's cabin door opening and quickly seated himself, securing his own seat belt and for all appearances, looking as though he had been waiting on everyone else.
Matt seemed to find it all hilarious.
The security man said nothing and once again disappeared into the cabin. The plane began moving shortly after.
"Well it was nice of them to warn us," Mello grumbled.
"I'm just happy we are leaving. The quicker we leave, the quicker we can get back home," was the reply he received. Mello silently agreed with Matt, although it was hardly secret that he didn't want to go back to Wammy's either.
Things got a little bumpy as the plane picked up speed and took off into the sky, but after a few minutes, like most other flights, the shaking calmed down as the plane reached height and leveled out.
"You can do what you like now," came a voice on the intercom; it was the only indication they were given that it was alright to move around.
Matt immediately unclipped his seatbelt and reclined the seat.
"You're going to sleep already?" Mello asked.
"I didn't sleep much last night, and I'm already jet-lagged from the other flight. Airports tire me out too," Matt told him without so much as batting a lash.
Mello rolled his eyes and began to fiddle around with the buttons on some remote control that had been Velcro-ed onto a small bolted down table to the left of him. After pressing a seemingly innocent button, a panel on the wall in front of him began to slide away, revealing a large flat screen television.
"Huh. That's useful," Matt said.
"I thought you were going to sleep?" Mello asked a little sarcastically, though he really didn't mind Matt watching him through hooded eyes. Matt flipped him off.
"Tell me how loud I can have this where you can still sleep." Mello clicked the volume, the easiest of the buttons to figure out with no directions, until Matt told him to stop. It was actually louder than Mello wanted.
Flipping through the available movies Mello found X-Men and grinned. Setting it to play, he set the remote aside and settled more fully into the seat. Matt was silent beside him, and when Mello glanced at him a small while later, Matt's features were relaxed in sleep.
Shaking his head softly, Mello lowered the volume just in case and went back to the movie. He could watch all three X-Men movies and still have time for another trilogy before they arrived. It was going to be a long flight.
-End Part 15-
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AN: See, i'm not dead yet :) i can't promise another quick update, if only because i don't know what will go on in real life. But all the edits are in place for me to look up.
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Special thanks to reviewers: ermer, Emlin18, "Eeeeeeeh", RavenNightray99, mimsty, mxmsupporter, Deadly Nightshade1395, kheelwithit, LeatherxStripes, Keono, issagokurosaki, Nazlyn101
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